Headline: Entertainment the whole way (except for the safety briefing).

Last Sunday I flew from Newark back to Houston on Continental. On that flight they had the “seemingly usual” entertainment in the headrest in front of you. There were several key differences however.

Entertainment the Whole Way

Unlike all my other flights, I was able to start watching movies or listen to music from the moment I sat down. In addition, I was able to listen to music all the way up to the gate. So while others were standing waiting for the first class passengers to clear out so we could deplane, I sat contently listening to relaxing music.

This fact that the entertainment was available the entire time really changed the trip. I felt more in control. Also, I was not worried about getting off the plane. I was pleasantly distracted. That seemed to make the trip much more relaxing.

Touch Screens

The screens in the headrest were also touch screen. That certainly made interacting much easier. What a clever way to deal with leg room! Now if they were to put too much leg room on the plane then passengers might complain that it’s too hard to reach the touch screen! (Although if they continue with the reduced leg room I’m likely to complain that I keep hitting my chin when I lift my finger from the screen…)

Variety

The variety was almost too much! Their music collection was almost as large as mine (Have about 3900 items in my collection), but a wider variety. The movies reminded me of sitting at home on AT&T UVerse. The music was pretty nice the way you could keep adding songs to the playlist… which they cleverly called the Jukebox.